Page 29 of Twice Shy

Chapter Ten

It’s not a date.

Joel told himself that repeatedly as he waited while Ollie strapped Luis into his stroller and gathered all their stuff together.It’s not a date, it’s just a casual drink with a friend. A platonic friend.Which did not explain his racing pulse or the fluttering anxiety—excitement?—behind his breastbone.

“Okay,” Ollie said, standing up from the stroller at last. “Who wants a hot chocolate?”

“Me!” Rory’s hand shot up like he was in class. “With marshmallows?”

“We’ll see.” Ollie glanced at Joel. “Ready to go?”

“Sure.” The wheels of the stroller rumbled over the boardwalk, making Luis giggle and conversation difficult. Even so, Joel felt unexpectedly light as he walked along next to Ollie, Rory between them holding onto the side of the stroller. Light and a little precarious.

“So, I saw you racing,” Ollie said once they’d reached the sidewalk. The sun, sinking behind New Milton, hung low in the sky and filled the town with golden light. It glanced off shop windows, dazzled drivers, and brought out the rich russet in Ollie’s hair, lending his pale skin a golden hue. He smiled, and Joel’s heart tripped over its own feet. “Were you running with that one kid? The girl who fell over?”

“Beth? Yeah. She’s got some coordination issues that make it difficult for her to run. She gets embarrassed when she trips or can’t keep up. I was just…providing moral support.”

Another smile, mostly in Ollie’s eyes. “I noticed. It was kind of you.”

“Sort of my job as her teacher.”

“This is your weekend, though. You’re off the clock.”

Joel shrugged. “It’s not like—” He stopped when a small hand took his and he looked down to find Rory smiling up at him.

Heart squeezing, Joel said, “Hey there, buddy.”

“Can you swing me?”

“What?”

“Rory…” Ollie was holding Rory’s other hand and wearing an interesting expression, not quite looking at Joel. “Mr. Morgan doesn’t want to—”

“I don’t mind. You mean like this?” He swung his arm back and gave Rory a little swing forward, lifting him onto his toes.

“Higher!”

He glanced over at Ollie and lifted an eyebrow.

“He’ll pull your arm off,” Ollie warned, but had shifted so that he could push the stroller one-handed and swing Rory with the other.

“I think I can handle it.” Feeling strangely giddy, he said, “Ready, Rory? One, two...three!”

Together they swung Rory up and forward. He squealed, chortling, and demanded “Again, again!” And so it went, all the way along Main Street. Ollie wasn’t wrong about the shoulder, but Joel couldn’t have cared less. Rory’s delight had him laughing—and Ollie too, an unexpectedly deep, rich chuckle. Joel glanced at him and their eyes met. It was a bare look, honest and expectant, and Joel’s pulse skipped, afraid of what Ollie might see in his eyes. He looked down at Rory’s laughing face and got ready to swing him again.

When they reached Dee’s Coffee Shop, Ollie called a halt to the game. “Okay, okay, that’s enough. I think I’ve got one arm longer than the other.” He pantomimed it, making Rory giggle and Joel grin so wide his cheeks hurt.

Dee’s wasn’t crowded late on an off-season Saturday afternoon, so there was plenty of room for Ollie to maneuver the stroller inside. While he grabbed a table next to the window, Joel headed to the counter. Dee was just emerging from the kitchen carrying a tray of homemade cake, her pink glasses pushed up into her spiky purple hair. “Hey there,” she said, smiling. “How are you doing, Joel?”

“Good.” It was only when he said it that he realized he meant it for once. Hedidfeel good, energized in a way he hadn’t for... Well, a long time. Somewhere in the back of his mind warning bells were softly chiming—ding-ding-danger—but he tried to ignore them. It was just coffee, for crying out loud. “I’m gonna need a couple of hot chocolates. Do you do a kid’s size?”

Dee looked up from where she was sliding the tray of pumpkin spice cake into the display case. “Sure. Are you with Ollie?”

He stilled. With Ollie? What did she meanwithOllie? “I, um—” His cheeks heated tellingly. “We were helping at the fun run, we’re just getting coffee on the way home.”

“Sure.” Dee’s voice remained neutral but there was a speculative glint in her eyes that made Joel nervous.

He wasn’t out here, and he hadn’t been kidding when he told Amy he wasn’t keen on going through it all again—especially not as a teacher. Enlightened as New Milton was, there’d inevitably be some parents with antediluvian attitudes, and he knew how easily the whispers would start.Hey, I saw Mr. Morgan out with Ollie Snow—yeah, the gay one. Do you think he swings both ways?The thought turned him cold.

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